SAN DIEGO — The parents of a woman who was holding her two-year-old son when they fell more than 80 feet from a Petco Park food court and died during a Padres game last year says the city and the Padres didn't do enough to prevent it from happening.
In a newly filed lawsuit, the family of Raquel Wilkins and two-year-old Denzel Browning-Wilkins say their deaths could have been prevented if the city and Padres had adequate railings and additional security at the food court.
The deaths occurred during a day game on September 25, 2021. That day witnesses say they saw 40-year-old Wilkins stand on top of a picnic table on an upper-level concourse at Petco Park.
Moments later she and her son were seen falling 80-plus feet to their death.
Police, in conjunction with the San Diego County Medical Examiner, classified Wilkins's death as a suicide and her young son's death as a homicide.
However, attorneys for Wilkins's parents, Darleen Clough and Donald Wilkins, say whatever the classification is, the area is not safe and the city and the Padres were negligent in failing to ensure public safety.
The first issue, claims the lawsuit, is that the "railing was too low to protect patrons" from falling and the nearby benches and tables were not bolted to the ground, allowing patrons to move them close to the stadium's edge.
Attorneys for the parents also said there was not enough security to make sure that patrons were safe and did not pose a risk to themselves or others.
"[The City and the Padres] were negligent regarding its onsite security and personnel for failing to protect decedents from the dangerous table and railing configuration and for failing to adequately maintain proper surveillance, supervision, and monitoring of the premises," reads the December 7 lawsuit.
CBS 8 reached out to the San Diego City Attorney's Office and the Padres.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the City Attorney's Office told CBS 8, "We will review the complaint and respond through the courts."
This article will be updated with a response from the Padres.
